The British armed merchant cruiser Rawalpindi, the Admiralty announced last night, was sunk in action with the German "pocket battleship" Deutschland and another German warship south-east of Iceland. It was the first naval action of the war, and the Rawalpindi fought against overwhelming odds until, her guns silenced and ablaze almost from stem to stern, she went down with her colours flying.

Meanwhile the search for the two enemy warships is continuing, in tempestuous weather. A storm and darkness enabled them to elude a British cruiser which was shadowing them .

The following is the Admiralty's narrative. The armed merchant cruiser Rawalpindi, manned by merchant seamen, reservists, and pensioners of the Royal Navy, and by men of the Royal Naval Reserve and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, was forming a part of the Northern Patrol by which the contraband control of German trade is enforced. This duty is particularly arduous on account of the long, dark nights and severe cold, and required large vessels of good sea-keeping qualities capable of enduring the frequent storms. At 3 30 on the afternoon of November 23 she sighted an enemy ship. Captain Kennedy, having examined this vessel through his glasses, said "It's the Deutschland all right," and the crew were ordered to action stations.

[Except it was not the Deutschland, but the more formidably equipped pocket battleship Scharnhorst, even more lethal to a converted P&O ocean liner.]

Smokefloats were lit and cast into the water to enable the Rawalpindi to escape. However, a second enemy ship was soon seen to starboard. The Deutschland, approaching, signalled the Rawalpindi to stop, and fired a shot across her bows. As this warning was rejected the first salvo was fired by the 11-inch guns of the Deutschland at a range of 10,000 yards. The Rawalpindi replied with all her four starboard 6-inch guns. The [Deutschland's] fourth salvo shot away the whole of the bridge and wireless-room.

The Rawalpindi maintained the fight until every gun was put out of action and the ship ablaze. After thirty to forty minutes of this unequal combat, the enemy ceased firing. Three boats were lowered. Two of these, containing over thirty men, were, it is believed, picked up by one of the German ships.

[Some 238 men from the Rawalpindi died, including Captain Edward Coverley Kennedy, father of the naval historian Ludovic Kennedy. He believed the second vessel sighted was an ally. But it was the Scharnhorsts's sister ship Gneisenau.]

These archive extracts are compiled by John Ezard: john.ezard@guardian.co.uk